It turns
out that Disney World
isn’t just every child’s dream come true – it might soon be every parent’s too.
Thanks to a new wireless wristband, next time guests go to Disney World they
can leave their purse or wallet – along with their cash, credit card and room
key – behind.

The popular
US theme park complex, located in Orlando, Florida, announced
its MyMagic+ programme on Monday, a radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology that will streamline the theme park experience for guests. At its heart
are MagicBands: RFID bracelets that encode each guest’s personal information
and can function as room key, park ticket, credit card and FastPass, the theme
park’s trademark line-skipping ticket. The new programme also allows visitors access
to the new website and app My
Disney Experience, from where they can select three free line-skipping
FastPasses and get VIP seating for parades, fireworks and character meet-and-greets,
from 60 days before arriving to after setting foot in the park.

The various
aspects of the MyMagic+ programme, from the new app to personalised interaction
with the characters, will be rolled out at Disney World over the coming weeks
and months, with a full launch expected this spring. The program is part of a
broader campaign, estimated to cost between $800 million and $1 billion, to
make Disney World easier to navigate for the 30 million people who visit each
year; free wi-fi has already been installed throughout the park.

For the
first time, the programme will also allow Disney to closely track guests’
behaviour and preferences. If guests choose to encode their MagicBands with
personal details like a child’s name and birthday, employees playing Disney
characters can access that data and greet young guests with a personalized
greeting. For example, Cinderella might say, “Hi, Ashley, Happy Birthday! I
hear you’re turning five today.”

Guests are
not forced to participate in MyMagic+, and those that do can adjust privacy
settings to control how much personal information is shared. Still, MyMagic+ has
the potential to track where a guest goes, at what time, how much time and
money he or she spends at any given attraction, as well as the names, ages,
birthdays and preferences of family members.

The
landmark program, not surprisingly, is raising major privacy concerns. At a
time when US consumers are growing increasingly wary of sharing personal
information with retailers and services, and the US government is trying to bolster online
privacy protections, Disney has decided to dive headfirst into the
contentious arena of personal data collection. The move raises serious
questions for future guests. Is it safe to share personal information about
children? How will the information be used – or shared with third parties? And
what if Disney’s database of personal information is breached by an outside
party?

Disney is
aware that some guests will be wary, and emphasizes that the program is
optional.

“Ensuring
the security of our guest’s information is obviously very important to us and
no one is more focused on this than we are,” Disney Parks and Resorts chairman
Tom Staggs wrote
on the company’s blog. “Everything is opt in, and guests will have the
opportunity to choose what information they share with us. Guests should also
know that the band does not store personal information.”

Though this
isn’t
the first time a vacation destination has experimented with RFID -- Wisconsin-based
park operator Great Wolf Resorts has been using RFID technology since 2006, and
some ski resorts and even Las Vegas casinos also use the technology -- Disney
sets the bar for other theme parks, which will, no doubt, be watching to see
whether guests embrace MyMagic+ and choose to trade privacy for convenience. As
such, the reaction to Disney’s new programme could trigger a major shift in how
other holiday destinations operate.